By Becky Maxedon

Lake Havasu City firefighters were treated to some special handmade care and comfort.

In the spring of 2023, Havasu Stitchers were the beneficiaries of a large donation of fabric and sewing items from the Robert Shank family. That donation gave one member of the nonprofit the idea to begin an ambitious project.

“A small group within Havasu Stitchers did a similar project for Desert Hill fire station. I stumbled across their project and thought why not this for all our stations do,” Terrie Eller said.

“I brought the idea to Havasu Stitchers board members and the idea was accepted.”

And with that, the members set to work making 100 quilts to be distributed to each of Lake Havasu’s fire stations. There are currently six fire stations in Lake Havasu City, with a seventh one being planned.

“We had 75 participants that pieced quilt tops, bound the quilts, making the quilt labels and long arming, which is the process of quilting the top, batting and backing all together with a special thread design,” Eller said.

“There were 100 quilts made. There weren’t any parameters given to our Stitchers for a design. Everyone came up with their own designs.

“Some were X’s and O’s, Bear Track, Broken Pinwheel, Basket Weave, Chevron, Courthouse Step and many panel designs were used,” Eller said.

Some of the quilts were on display at the Lake Havasu City office building from Oct. 22 to Nov. 1.

On Thursday, a distribution event at the Lake Havasu City Aquatic Center took place with Mayor Cal Sheehy and Fire Chief Pete Pilifas on hand.

One of the recipients of a quilt, firefighter/paramedic Joe Tobin said, “It is humbling to see people thinking about their firefighters in the community. Such a nice gesture that will see a lot of use in the stations throughout the city.”

The Stitchers also presented the Robert Shank family with a finished Grandmother’s Garden quilt that their mother had started.

photo courtesy FF Joe Tobin

The organization expressed its thanks to Phyllis Barton for finishing the hand piecing on the Shank family quilt, Kevin Cabbage for quilting it, and Jeannette Kennedy for binding it, and to all who participated in the project.

Eller said 82 quilts were distributed at the event, and in anticipation of a seventh fire station being built soon, the Stitchers are ready with the remaining quilts for the opening for each new firefighter.

“After the firefighter project, we will concentrate on our community outreach projects with walker bags, lap quilts and such as we normally do year round,” Eller said.

“It was an honor to provide these quilts to our firefighters and I’m sure we will do other projects for our town in the future.”

For more information about Havasu Stitchers, visit havasustitchers.com.

Photo Courtesy Joe Tobin